C is for Cold Case
by Jelsemium
Summary: Don and his team catch a cold case involving missing and possibly dead children. As usual, they turn to Charlie for assistance, but not the usual assistance that they get from their resident genius. This was written for the 2006 Alphabet Challenge
1. Chapter 1

C is for Cold Case

By Jelsemium

For the 2006 Alphabet Challenge

Disclaimers: The only character I own is Edna Rush

Description: Insinuation of really bad things.

* * *

The hollow feeling in my chest gave me the impression that all the air had been vacuumed out of the room. 

"Don, are you okay?" David Sinclair asked. I couldn't blame him for being worried; I must have looked like I'd been gut punched.

I sat down abruptly, but didn't answer. I couldn't take my eyes off the damn photo. We had dozens of photos spread out over the table of the conference room that we had appropriated for this cold case.

As far as crime photographs went, this batch was rather innocuous. Just a lot of pictures of children, ages from seven to early teens.

Not one of the children displayed any distress or dismay, much less injuries. They were all smiling and mugging for the camera. Not one appeared to have a care in the world.

A casual observer wouldn't have thought anything other than "how cute." However, said observer would have no way of knowing that seven of the ninety-three photos were of murder victims. The known victims of a serial molester known as the Laundromat Murderer, due to his habit of disposing the bodies of his victims by stuffing them into dryers.

That left us with the daunting task of identifying eighty-six children who may have been murdered. The task was made more difficult by the fact that the photographs were over ten years old; some could have been as much as twenty. Our forensic team was going over the originals. Our computer techs were running scans against databases of missing children.

The picture I was holding was seventeen years old. I knew this for a fact. Wordlessly, I held it up to David. "This is Charlie," I said.

An argument I had with Charlie came back to taunt me. _You need to understand the reality of this crime!" I shouted. "I do understand the reality," Charlie retorted._

How could he understand? I knew that he'd been upset about his friend, Jessica. Had he meant that he'd once been a victim himself?

The background chatter in the room hit the wall and died.

David walked over, took the picture out of my hand and tilted it, as if to get a better angle. He did not, however, question my statement.

Megan leaned over from where she was sitting and gasped. Colby craned his neck for a look but didn't get up. David tilted the picture a different way so that Colby could see it without coming over.

Edna Rush, the agent in charge of this cold case stared at us as if we had all grown antennas. She moved her gaze from the team back to me with an unspoken question clearly on her face.

"Charlie's my brother," I explained to her. I took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. I could feel blood going back into my face.

Her eyes went wide. "Your brother? I didn't know you had lost a family member…" she trailed off as I shook my head.

"Charlie is one of our consultants," David said hurriedly, as if affirming Charlie's presence at our workplace would somehow deny the implications of the picture.

"Larry and I had lunch with him… two days ago," Megan said. She was so rattled that she broke her rule about _not_ discussing any of her interactions with Larry Fleinhardt.

"Well, then some of these other kids might still be alive," Colby said, seizing on a possible bright spot. He picked up a picture of an adorable six year old girl. He looked at me and frowned. "Um, Don, wouldn't you have known if…?" He let the question trail off, possibly because my face must have taken on that punched-in-the-gut look again.

Or possibly because Megan had kicked him under the table.

I shook my head. "I wasn't on very good terms with Charlie when this picture was taken," I confessed. I gave the picture a shake.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember if I had heard anything about Charlie being sick or hospitalized. Hadn't there been something about his leg?

Megan squeezed my shoulder. "Your parents might have decided to spare you that… from that horror," she said. "Assuming it happened at all."

"Since we don't have any matches for these photos," David said. "Perhaps none of them were attacked."

"Whether he was attacked or not, your brother is now an official lead," Edna said gently. "Where does he live? How often do you see him?"

"Close and lots," Colby spoke up.

I shot him a quelling look.

Colby came very close to almost looking abashed. Or maybe that was a pained expression caused by somebody kicking him again. Not that I'm accusing Megan or anything.

"Right," I said. I tried to steady my breathing. Of course my parents would have tried to protect me as well as Charlie. I looked at the picture again. Charlie looked to be thirteen, maybe fourteen. I'd have been a lower classman in college and reveling in the fact that I was no longer shadowed by my bratty genius brother.

I winced at the memory of how I used to think of my brother. What if he had died when I still didn't like him? I shook that thought off and checked my watch. Friday afternoon in the middle of summer usually meant that Charlie wasn't in class. That's not to say he wasn't working, as I once assumed. Charlie can never seem to leave math behind.

I whipped out my cell. Charlie's number one on my Nextel. If you had told me ten years ago that I'd want to talk to my brother that much, I would have laughed in your face and called the men with the butterfly nets.

I could only reach Charlie's voice mail. "Chuck, return this call or I am going to have to hurt you," I snarled.

My team looked at me in undisguised shock.

"What? Haven't you ever heard diplomacy in action before?" I tried Dad's landline next. Yeah, I know, technically, it's Charlie's house and therefore Charlie's landline. However, I still think of it as my Dad's.

Try to sue me, my girlfriend's a lawyer.

I got the answering machine, but Dad picked up as soon as he heard my voice, bless him. "Hey, Donnie. Charlie's not here, he's gone to the grocery store. He has a recipe he wants to try, so that means no brisket tonight."

He paused, but not long enough for me to respond.

"Unless you really had your mouth set for brisket, in which case I can wrest control of the kitchen away from your brother."

I was taken aback. "Do I really only call to talk to Charlie or bum a meal?" I blurted without thinking.

My team exchanged smirks. Oh, that was going to bounce back on my head. That's okay, I'm a big boy. Besides, they know who hands out their assignments.

"Nah," Dad said cheerfully. "But I decided to go with the odds."

"Oh." I hated to disrupt his good mood. Especially since I didn't have anything solid.

"Really, I'm glad you call your brother so much," Dad assured me. "It makes him happy that you want to talk to him, even if it is just business." Another pause. "So, are you coming for dinner?"

"I have work."

"You always have work, you still need to eat."

"Well," I tried to interrupt. It never works.

"Bring your team."

"Actually, I need to talk to Charlie. Do you know when he'll be back?"

"No, but I expect if you come over, he'll be back by then."

I decided this was a topic better handled at home. If Charlie had been assaulted, I wanted Dad there to help me cope. Him cope, I mean. Help Charlie cope.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

Charlie wasn't home when Megan, Edna and I arrived. However, we had barely settled down with clinking glasses of iced tea when he showed up with two paper bags in his arms, plus a couple of plastic bags dangling from his wrists. 

"Don! How about a hand?" he said.

Dutifully, I applauded.

Charlie rolled his eyes.

Megan and Edna giggled.

Dad shook his head and stood up, but Megan and Edna beat him to Charlie's side.

Charlie beamed at them and they visibly melted. Honestly, I don't know why my brother isn't married yet. He can get chicks eating out of his hand in less time than it takes to describe it. Just don't tell Megan that I called her a chick, okay?

"Four bags?" I said. "That's all you got?"

"It's plenty," Charlie said smugly. "I can feed your entire team." He looked at Edna inquiringly.

"Charlie, this is Edna Rush," I said. "She's in charge of a cold case we're working."

He tilted his head, sparrow-like, and studied the three of us. "So, you have some numbers for me to crunch? A pattern for me to define?"

Edna and Megan looked at me to take the lead.

"Have a seat, Charlie," I said.

"I've got to put the frozen stuff away," he demurred.

This time I got up to help.

"It's a nasty one," I said. "Even if it is a cold case."

"What kind of case?" Charlie asked as he packed the ice cream away.

I put away the last of the frozen vegetables and closed the freezer. "Serial child molestation."

Dad hissed, but said nothing.

I watched Charlie's profile. He frowned, but said nothing. I knew that he had issues because of Jessica.

He looked at me and he frowned. "What? You know I'll help."

"We don't need your usual kind of help, Charlie," I said.

Charlie looked puzzled, but Dad began to look worried. I think he had a suspicion of where this was going.

"It's a cold case, you said," Dad asked.

My mouth felt dry, so I went back to my tea for a gulp. I nodded. "New evidence has turned up." I said. "A derelict hotel in downtown LA was being cleaned out and a box of pictures was discovered in the lost and found section of the basement."

"How do you know this relates to the case?"

"A combination of luck and paranoia," Edna said. "One of the cleaners watches true crime shows. He wondered why anybody would have a box filled with pictures of obviously unrelated children. He suspected ugly things and called the cops. The cops checked the photos and confirmed those ugly thoughts. They matched one of them to a local girl who went missing twenty years ago."

"So you ran the rest of the photos against missing children?" Charlie guessed.

Edna nodded. "We also searched the hotel. One of the trunks in the lost and found…" she trailed off, and then rallied. "That missing girl was found in a trunk in lost and found."

Charlie winced and sat down next to Dad.

Dad reached over and patted his forearm. "How can Charlie help, if not with his math?" Dad demanded.

Charlie blinked at him.

"I doubt there's anything a mathematician could help with," Edna said. "These cases are scattered over the west coast."

Charlie shook his head and launched into his spiel. "There's almost always something I can help with mathematically," he said. "Math isn't just about numbers, it's about discerning patterns. I can do a geographic analysis based on where the missing children lived, where they were last seen…"

"We need you to look at some photographs, Charlie," Megan interrupted gently.

Charlie's eyes went wide. "Jessica?" he asked.

Megan shook her head.

Charlie turned to me. "Is one of the children Jessica Cartman? I still haven't been able to get in touch…"

I also shook my head. "I don't think so," I replied. "But I'm not that certain that I'd recognize her, anyway."

Dad was definitely looking alarmed, and I wondered if his suspicions were based on my behavior, or if he had previous knowledge about what had happened to Charlie.

"One of the pictures is of you, Charlie," I said.

For a moment, I thought Dad was going to leap up and grab Charlie as if that would protect him from something that happened seventeen years ago.

Charlie, on the other hand, was still looking blank. That was more reassuring than anything he could have said or done. Y'see, Charlie's face is an open book. If you can't read it, it's because you're not looking. And if Charlie hadn't connected his being the focus of a sexual predator with being sexually assaulted, then it hadn't happened.

"This guy was stalking me?" Charlie managed after a few minutes. "You think I could have seen something?"

I took a deep breath.

Edna beat me to the punch. "Or survived something."

Charlie went white and Dad squeezed his arm again. I got up, decided against touching him right away and got him a glass of water. I put it in front of him and patted his shoulder.

Charlie craned his neck to look at me, and then looked at Dad. "You…" his voice squeaked and he took a hasty swallow.

"I didn't know what to think, Buddy," I said. "I mean, that picture was you at age thirteen or fourteen. When we weren't exactly on the best of terms."

Charlie frowned at Dad. "You would have known," he said.

"I…" Dad stopped. "You're right. Your mother would have told me if something like this had happened when you were at Princeton."

Charlie nodded. "Well, for the record, I have never been attacked that way."

Megan straightened slightly and the dark look in her eyes faded. She really feels protective of my brother. One of the reasons I've become so fond of her.

Edna sighed.

Dad shot her a dirty look and she looked abashed.

It was Charlie's turn to pat Dad on the arm. "Dad, she only meant that their lead has petered out," he said. "Not that she wanted me to have been molested."

Dad relaxed a bit.

"Right, I'm glad you were spared that," Edna said sincerely. "However, you may still be able to help. Do you remember anybody paying an undue amount of attention to you when you were that age?"

Charlie barely managed to not laugh in her face.

Then it was Edna's turn to look bewildered.

I rubbed my upper lip to hide a smirk. When I had my face under control, I said, "Sorry, Eddie, I sometimes forget not _everybody_ on the planet has heard of my brother. He was a math prodigy; he started Princeton when he was thirteen."

Edna nodded. "So there were a lot of people paying attention to him," she said. "Wait a minute." She dug a notebook out of her jacket. "One of the first murder victims, Andre Long, age 10, was a chess prodigy." She flipped through her notes. "And one of the missing girls was snatched from a piano recital… Correction, a piano _concert_ when she was fourteen."

I frowned. "What about the others? Were they all especially talented?"

"Good question," Edna said.

"Wouldn't the original team have made that connection?" Megan asked.

Edna shook her head. "These cases hadn't been connected before," she said. "They're spread out in time and location and have been treated as separate cases. It wasn't until this stash of pictures turned up that anybody realized that this was all the work of one monster."

She looked at Charlie. "Maybe some of these unidentified children were prodigies, too," Edna said. "Maybe you would recognize one."

Charlie licked his lips.

"Charlie?" Dad asked.

Charlie stood. "I can try," he said.

"You sure?" Dad asked worriedly.

Charlie frowned. "I'm a big boy, Dad," he said.

Dad stood up and reached out. For a moment, I thought he was going to hug Charlie. Instead, he grasped Charlie by the arm and turned him around so they could stand back to back. Dad held his hand to his head.

Charlie snorted and sliced his hand over his head and touched Dad's shoulders. "Okay, I'm an adult, even if I'm not a 'big boy,'" he said ironically.

Having established himself as alpha wolf, Dad turned around and patted Charlie on the head.

Charlie ducked away.

"Why didn't you give me any of those tall genes that you're so proud of, Dad?" Charlie complained.

"You should have exercised more when you were a kid," Dad said. "I told you those dry erase fumes would stunt your growth."

Charlie rolled his eyes heavenward. "So, what's _Don's_ excuse?" he said. He shot me a snide look.

"Are you inferring that I'm short?" I demanded.

"No, I'm _implying_ that you're short," Charlie shot back "_You_ are inferring."

A gave a bark of laughter that I didn't really feel. "Oh, when did you become a grammar expert?" I demanded. I stood up, and straightened my spine as I much as I could. "I'm taller than you, smart guy."

"Ah, I just inherited all the brains," Charlie said.

"C'mon, boys," Megan said. "We'd better get back to work."

"You're sure you're up to this?" Dad asked.

"It's only looking at pictures, Dad," he said. "Besides, I may be able to work out some pattern from the locations of the children who have been identified. I could give Don's team…" he looked at Edna apologetically. "I could maybe give Edna and her team some idea of where the unidentified victims came from."

"You could do that?" Edna asked, perking up a little.

"Charlie's done stranger things," Megan asserted with a touch of pride. Like he was _her_ brother. No, that doesn't bother me. Well, maybe a little. My brother and I had just gotten our relationship into a good place. I didn't need more sibling rivalry.

"You have no idea of the strange things Charlie has done," I said. What can I say; zinging my brother is my automatic reaction.

Charlie rolled his eyes at Megan. "You had to give him a straight line, didn't you?"


	3. Chapter 3

Cold Case 3

* * *

The team looked up when Charlie walked in with us. They studied him for a few minutes, like they expected him to exhibit fresh injuries. Then they looked at me for their cue.

"What?" Charlie said, sensing something was amiss.

"No, he wasn't a victim," I informed them.

Charlie whipped his head around to give me a startled look. Apparently it hadn't occurred to him that the team would have been worried about that.

"You can stop walking on eggshells, now," Megan added.

"Good, glad to hear it," Colby said. I barely managed to refrain from snapping _"Hey, Granger, worry about your own brother."_

Charlie grinned at him, but before he could say anything, I spoke up. "Charlie might be able to get a handle on where the other victims came from," I said.

Nobody questioned this. We were all familiar with how Charlie could take geographic data and wave his mathmagic wand and pull out useful locations.

"Meanwhile, ladies and gentlemen," I reminded him. "We have people to talk to and leads to follow. Let's get Charlie some more data to work with."

I had calls to make and meetings to attend, not all of which dealt with Edna's cold case. I was just coming out of one meeting when I saw David pause outside the conference room where Charlie was working and say, "You okay, man?"

Contrary to rumors; I did _not_ knock David on his keister in order to reach Charlie.

Charlie looked green, and his hand trembled a little as he stared at the picture in his hand.

"What?" I said. "Charlie, is that someone you know?"

For an answer, he flipped the picture around so I could see. A nine year old boy with dark curly hair was holding a plastic protractor. He was sitting on the side of an unfinished swimming pool. I could make out a sliding glass door behind him. But there was something strange about the lighting.

I plucked it out of Charlie's fingers and frowned at it. I was distracted from the lighting when I realized that this was Charlie at age nine, maybe ten, considering how small he was.

"It's me again," Charlie explained to the others. "Sitting by the side of an indoor pool."

That was what was wrong with the lighting. The sun was on the opposite side of the glass than I would have expected. I wrote that down, indoor pools aren't as common as outdoor pools in California.

Megan's eyes went wide and she moved over to the chair next to Charlie. She picked up the stack of pictures that Charlie had already gone through and began sorting through them.

"Crap," Edna said from behind me. "It never occurred to me that some of these pictures might be of the same child at different ages."

I looked around. "Colby, tell the computer techs to try matching the pictures against each other. They must have some software that can tell if the pictures are of the same kid at different ages."

Colby moved to his desk and grabbed the phone.

"We might have a lot less than ninety-three victims here," Edna said. She sounded massively relieved and I couldn't blame her. The idea of any child being hurt was sickening, but the idea of there being ninety-three of them had been the stuff of nightmares.

Colby headed off do take care of details. I love being boss, sometimes, but I wasn't thinking about that then. I was worried about the green tinge in my brother's face. "What else? Whose pool was that?"

Charlie nodded and tapped the picture of his younger self. "I remember the pool," he said slowly. "I'm trying to remember… his name." His brow furrowed.

Megan stopped sorting and studied his profile. I pulled a chair between them and sat down.

"It was just before I started high school," Charlie said, looking off at nothing. "You might remember. My last tutor had retired, and Mom and I were having problems finding a replacement."

I nodded, more to keep him talking than because of any clear memory of this. I hadn't been much interested in regular school, and even less interested in Charlie's endless string of tutors.

"It was tricky finding an advanced math tutor for a kid my age. One that is actually willing to spend time with a child, was well versed in the subjects that I was interested in, and that could convince Mom that she could safely leave me in his or her care."

Charlie made a wry face and said to the team. "She was concerned with nutrition, since we math nerds have notoriously poor eating habits and I was easily affected by things like caffeine and sugar."

He shot me a look out of the corner of eye, but I restrained from making any snide comments. "You wound up with that guy who knew Tommy LaSorda, right?" I asked. Of course, that wasn't saying much. Tommy LaSorda was on first name basis with three quarters of the San Fernando Valley.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, Dr. Lovell. He got us tickets to the Fourth of July game."

I remembered that. It was the few times when I was a kid that I appreciated Charlie's tutors.

"So, how about this guy?" I prodded verbally. I poked Charlie in the arm for good measure.

Something prodded my leg, but I didn't lower myself to glare at Megan.

Charlie's face twitched and he swung his head from side to side. "He was kind of fat, with curly grey and black hair that reminded me of steel wool."

"You must have been introduced," I urged. I thought of several sarcastic comments I could make about his memory for numbers vs. his memory for names, but I refrained. He looked upset enough. Besides, Megan seemed to be going into maternal mode and I was going to need both legs at some point.

Charlie frowned and stopped swinging his head. "He told me to call him "Dr. Maths," he said. "He said that he proof-read text books for a living. He said that he loved teaching, but found it hard to stand for hours at a time because of an old back injury."

I wrote that down, too.

"So, it could be something like 'Math?' Megan mused out loud.

David nodded and typed it into his computer. "Yeah, could be Matthew, Mathews, Mathers..."

"Mathias, Matheson," Colby returned from his phone call in time to add to this conversation.

"And could be first or last name," Megan added. "Like Mathias."

Charlie pursed his lips. "I'm almost sure it was a last name," he said after a few minutes.

"The back injury is why he said he needed an indoor pool, even though he already had a pool in his back yard," Charlie continued. "So he could exercise during the winter. Swimming being the only exercise he could tolerate. And frankly, it didn't look like he did much of it."

The backyard pool was promising. Two pools would have been unusual enough that maybe somebody would remember it, even after all these years.

"Do you remember how far it was from home?" I asked.

"No," Charlie said. That surprised me. Even as a kid, Charlie had a good sense of time and distance. Any type of measurement came easily to him.

"We had car trouble on the way up," Charlie said. "And Mom got lost trying to find a place to get it fixed. We wound up taking a taxi."

I jotted that down. A taxi record that far back? Not likely, but I'm not above a Hail Mary shot.

"We arrived about 12:30," Charlie continued. "I was too excited then to be hungry, but Mom wanted to be sure that I had lunch. I guess Dr. Maths had told her that I'd be fed, because she started in on the food situation when I wanted to talk Eigenvectors."

"Gesundheit," Colby said.

I pretended not to notice when Megan kicked him under the table.

"Mom checked out his kitchen like she was a health inspector. Nothing in the refrigerator but fruit juices, vegetables, milk and some chicken. The cupboards were equally dismal. Health food, cereal, canned vegetables." Charlie sighed just thinking about the boring food. "I was so not interested in eating."

"You memorized the contents of the cupboards and accuse _Mom_ of being nosy?" I blurted.

Charlie grinned sheepishly. "I come by it honestly," he said somewhat defensively.

I ignored Megan's gentle prod with her toe.

David picked up the picture. "This pool is under construction. Did the workers show up while you were there?"

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, they actually got there before Mom left. They were just leaving when Mom returned."

"You mean, you weren't alone with this turd," I said.

Charlie shook his head. "No, and the way that house was set up, you could see everything from the pool area. It was in the center of the house and there were sliding glass doors to all the rooms. At least, all but the bathroom and the garage. It was kind of distracting, though, with the workmen there. I couldn't concentrate on the math."

"That's some distraction," I said. "Man, you could sit in a wind tunnel and work on math."

Charlie flashed me a grin.

"Megan? Why would he invite Charlie there if he knew the workmen would be there?" I asked.

"My guess is the first visit was just a get acquainted visit," Megan said. "Since this scumbag took time to get to know the kids, he'd want to get them to trust him enough to keep a secret for him."

I felt slightly less inclined to be sick at that.

"You remember that day pretty clearly," I said.

Charlie sighed. "I'm trying to remember his name."

"That wasn't mean as a shot," I said. I shot Megan a warning look and she did not kick me.

While I was looking at her.

Charlie continued. "Thing is, I was only there that one time. And only for a couple of hours." He ran his hands through his hair.

"Why's that?" David asked. "Your mother didn't like paying money when you couldn't even study?"

"I'm inclined to think it was lunch," Charlie said dryly.

The team and I exchanged looks.

"The kitchen was full of health food," Charlie explained. "But the rest of the house was Candyland."

"Huh?" Megan said just before I did.

Charlie waved his hands as if to indicate the entire building we were in. "He had junk food stashed all over the house," he said, enthusiastically. "He had coolers in the middle of the house filled with soft drinks, ostensibly for the workers, but I could help myself, too. He had cookies in his desk drawer. Lollypops and peppermint sticks in the medicine cabinets. Tootsie rolls in a vase by the front door."

Charlie laughed. "He even had one of those chest freezers in his spare bedroom that was full of ice cream." He stopped abruptly.

"What?" I said.

Charlie swallowed a couple of times before continuing. "There was… there were red stains in the cooler. Dr. Maths said that he'd spilled Kool-Aid…" He got up abruptly and darted from the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

* * *

The team looked at me. I held up my hand, if Charlie had run off to empty his stomach, I wanted to give him a litle privacy.

So I counted down from five on my fingers. After I folded my pinky, I followed Charlie to the men's room.

He was rinsing his face off when I got there. By the looks of the sink, he'd already rinsed his mouth out. I shook my head sadly.

His reflection gave me a sour look. "You don't need to come after me," he said. "I'm a big boy."

I turned my back on him so I could use the facilities. "Didn't you and Dad already go over that?" I asked blandly. "I mean, you're shorter than I am, and you claim that _I'm_ short."

I didn't get the smile I was aiming for. "That's not what I meant," he said. "I can take care of myself."

"Really? If you've finished throwing up so quickly, that means you forgot lunch," I said. I was worried and trying to make light of it. Charlie's an adult. He is not a child. He is not made of glass.

Charlie leaned against the sink and closed his eyes.

"Dad and I really needed to get you married off, Chuck,"

This at least got him to roll his eyes in my direction.

"Seriously, Buddy," I said.

"I'm okay," he lied and he left with as much dignity as he could muster.

I took a few minutes to wash up and followed him. He was back at the table and David was placing an open can of 7-Up at his elbow. (_Refresh my memory, whose brother is he? I sometimes think my team forgets._)

"It probably wasn't blood, Charlie," Megan was saying thoughtfully. She had the pictures sorted by gender and coloring, and by then was sorting by apparent age.

The computer analysis would do a better job of determining if any of these were of the same child at different ages, but Megan was working on the theory that redundancy never hurt.

"Right," Charlie said. He took a deep breath. "Anyway, there were caches of junk food all over the house, and he urged the stuff on all of us, the workers as well as me."

"And when Mom asked what you'd eaten, you spilled your guts because you never could keep a secret," I guessed.

That got a faint smile out of him. "Well, actually, it was a more literal version of 'spilling my guts'" he admitted.

"Ewww, Chuck!" I exclaimed. I put my hand over his mouth. "That's waaa-aay too much information."

A more Charlie-like grin followed that. "When Mom realized what I'd been eating, she made me clean the car."

My eyes must have bugged a little then. I actually remembered the car cleaning incident. I'd been surprised at how angry Mom had been. I mean, I'd seen Charlie get away with things that I'd get grounded for. It hadn't make sense to me that he'd get punished for getting carsick.

"I remember that," I managed." I'd actually felt sorry for you then, ya little squirt."

I was out of Megan's reach, so I felt safe in saying that.

After a few moments, another thought occurred to me. "Dad might remember that incident, too. Maybe he'd remember Dr. Math's real name."

Charlie shot me a miserable look. "You really want to tell Dad, 'Hey, Mom dropped Charlie off with a suspected pedophile. You happen to remember his name?' "

I winced.

Edna frowned, but I held up my hand. "We will, _if_ we need to," I told her.

Charlie nodded. "Besides, Dad might not remember," he said. "I only went that one day, and Mom never paid him."

I cocked my head. "How do you know this?" I asked.

Charlie picked up the first picture I'd found of him. "This," he said. "This is from when I met Doctor Maths for the second time. He mentioned the lack of payment then."

I exchanged looks with the team. "Go on," I said quietly. "I take it you know where the picture of you at fourteen was taken?"

He nodded. "It was at a Mathematics symposium at L.A. Tech," he said. He shook his head. "I can't believe how naïve I was. I almost walked right into the oldest trap, and I never even suspected it until now."

I reached over and squeezed his forearm. "He was at this symposium?"

"He must have been," Charlie said. He stared sadly at his fourteen year old self.

"Think there are any records of attendees?" I asked.

Charlie blinked. "Um, could be," he said. He got up and typed the particulars into David's laptop.

I added the info to my notes.

"So, what happened?" Colby asked.

"Hm? Oh," Charlie said. "Oh. I was there to present my first published paper."

"Published? At fourteen?" Edna was deeply impressed.

OK, I puffed up a little. He's my brother, I'm entitled. No need for the team to smirk like they did.

Charlie was flattered by Edna's awe. I could tell. "Yeah, I was the youngest one there," he said with a shy smile.

"Not surprised," Colby said.

"By a couple of decades," David added.

Charlie nodded. "That's where part of the problem lay," he added. "Nobody took me into consideration when planning the menu and they served one of those rubber chicken casseroles with creamed vegetables on the side." He shuddered. "Even the rolls were too hard to eat. Dessert was cake, but I only got a tiny portion." He held up his thumb and forefinger to indicate the injustice of his treatment.

I had to grin.

"What?" Charlie demanded.

"I think it's funny that you remember the details of this lunch so clearly," I said.

"It was the first time I presented a paper in public," Charlie said defensively. "I could tell you what we had for breakfast, what Mom wore, how many times she had me change my tie…"

I held up my hands in surrender. "Whatever, Chuck," I said.

Charlie glared, Megan measured the distance to my shin, and David and Colby exchanged amused looks. I dragged their attention back to the matter at hand.

"Go on, Charlie," I said.

"Right," Charlie replied, sobering up. "I was still hungry and ready to go home. Mom got involved in some convoluted debate about intellectual property rights. However, she took pity on me and told me that I could go hit the vending machines in the lobby. She gave me a handful of change, and I had some money. I left before she could change her mind."

Charlie went back to his seat. "I also the first one out the door. The other scientists were finishing dessert or discussing the presentations or arguing about the presentations." He shook his head. "It was overwhelming and even if I hadn't been hungry, I doubt I would have stayed."

"You? Passing on a chance to discuss or even argue about math?" I asked.

Charlie made a wry face. "There were more scientists than I had ever seen in one room," he said. "I was feeling overwhelmed." He shook his head. "Anyway, the only vending machines in the lobby held gum and cigarettes. The clerk told me that the upstairs lounge room had cookies and soda. So I went upstairs in search of junk food."

"And ran into Dr. Maths," Megan finished grimly.

Charlie nodded. "We got to talking. He mentioned the lack of payment and wondered if there was a diplomatic way to bring this to Mom's attention.

"We started walking then. He said he was very impressed with my paper, that's when he took my picture."

Charlie sighed. "He said he wanted a picture of both of us, and suggested that we would be able to find somebody at the hot dog cart. That idea held instant appeal. Not only would I be able to get the highly coveted junk food, but something a little more substantial as well."

"Dr. Maths must have been listening," David observed.

Charlie made a wry face. "Or he could just have been observant," he said. "Anyway, he told me that the hot dog cart was outside, next to the industrial arts building."

Edna muttered something I won't repeat here.

I oh so casually sat down in the chair between Megan and Charlie. Megan squeezed my arm, letting me know that I hadn't been as casual as I had hoped.

Charlie's face tightened. "I've been to L.A. Tech since," he said. "There's no hot dog cart in the area he said there was. I didn't think about it much because I assumed that it had been moved."

He grabbed a pad of paper and began sketching the area. "After all, it's not a good location for attracting customers. The industrial arts building is set apart from the other buildings, none of which have windows facing it. There's a small, grassy area with lots of tall bushes, and a small parking lot nearby."

"So, was anybody out there that day?"

Charlie shook his head. "I doubt it. It was Friday afternoon during the summer. Not likely to have been any class out there. I don't know for sure, because we never got that far. We were intercepted by a professor who wanted more details about my paper, and my autograph."

I was all ears, and the rest of the team was, too.

"This professor, have you met him since?" Edna asked. "Can you get in touch with him?"

Charlie held up his cell phone. "I left a voice message as soon as I realized where that picture was taken," he said.

I had my suspicions about who he called, but didn't voice them.

"I was flattered as hell, as you can imagine," Charlie said. "Looking back, I think that Dr. Maths was rather put out that my attention had been distracted from him."

"I bet he was," Megan said.

Charlie nodded and kept talking. "Anyway, next thing I knew, Dr. Maths and I been steered back to the lobby just as people started to come out of the conference room. I mentioned getting a photograph of both of us, but Dr. Maths had to leave then."

"What a surprise," Colby muttered.

Charlie sighed. "Mom showed up a few minutes later, and she was not in a good mood. I think she'd lost her legal debate. Anyway, we left before I could hand out my autograph and I didn't dare mention junk food when she was in that mood." He actually pouted. "Then we had that eggplant thing for dinner."

I winced. I miss my Mom with a passion some days, but what she did with eggplant had to be illegal in all fifty states, DC, and most of the territories that the US owned. I put my arm around Charlie's shoulders and squeezed with what I hoped would be taken as mock sympathy.

Didn't fool Megan, she shot me a sympathetic look. Damn profilers.

"And you never saw Dr. Maths again?" I asked, shifting and tightening my grip. It was Megan's fault, really. She shouldn't have gotten all girly on me. I made sure I was out of her reach, too.

Charlie shook his head. He didn't say anything, possibly because I was cutting off his air supply right then.

Megan started to ask something, or maybe she was going to tell me that fuchsia wasn't Charlie's best color. She was interrupted by Charlie's cell phone.

I released him and he flipped the phone open.

"Yes?" he said. Such wonderful phone etiquette he has. "Oh, good. Yeah, I was wondering if you remembered that…" He actually blushed at this point. "I'm glad it was so memorable, thanks. What about the guy I was talking to…"

Then his expression darkened and I was afraid we were going to have to tell Dad about this after all.

"No, don't go there. Yes, that is what we're…" he paused. "Wait, how were you to know? And even if you suspected…" He paused and shook his head. "Stop. No. You can't blame… Matz-ur-ath? How do you spell that?" He gave a snort of something close to amusement. "And I kept saying 'Dr. Maths… Oh, he did go by that? Well, I feel less stupid."

He wrote Arnold Matzurath on his pad. David input that into his computer.

"Yeah, well, you're not, either. In fact, I owe you… I never thanked you. In fact, if I ever mentioned the event, I'm sure I was rude." Charlie's eyebrows went up. "I am not always rude, am I?"

He was very careful not to look at me after he said that.

"Lobster? If that's what you want…" Charlie grinned. "I know you were joking, but I'm not…" His voice got rather squeaky then. "You have his _address_?"

Everyone looked alert.

"Now I'm definitely not joking about that lobster dinner. Yes, for two. Of course, with the dining companion of your choice." He shot a sideways look at Megan.

I have _got_ to be nicer to Larry Fleinhardt.

Colby and David looked amused. Colby opened his mouth to say something, winced, and shut it again. Megan looked bland. I made a note not to play poker with her.

"Thanks, Lar," Charlie flipped his phone shut.

The team was all over this like melted butter on a lobster. I could leave them alone while I took Charlie home. At least, as long as I brought them back something to eat.

"C'mon, Buddy," I said, I gestured for him to accompany me. "I think you've done enough."

Charlie frowned. "You sure? I could still do a geographic analysis of the victims."

"You can do that at home," I said. "All you need for that are the addresses of where they lived and where they were last seen, right?"

Charlie nodded. I let him grab his laptop before I herded him home.


	5. Chapter 5

Epilogue:

* * *

We had a wrap party, as they call it in Hollywood.

Charlie fixed Lobster Newburg, if you can believe that.

We didn't. So we harangued him. Then I accused Amita of cooking for him. Amita merely smiled. But I knew enough harassment would cause Charlie to crumble.

I was right, as usual, Charlie finally confessed that it came from a can that he'd bought from Vermont Country Store.

Larry examined his plate dubiously.

"I said a lobster dinner, Larry," Charlie teased. "I didn't say it would be fresh lobster, much less at a nice restaurant."

Larry shot Charlie an ironic look. Then delicately nibbled on his lobster and bow tie pasta.

I wasn't sure if Charlie was teasing Larry about his dinner, or if he was trying to fool us into thinking that Charlie wasn't going to pay for Megan and Larry to go to a fancy restaurant. For a guy who is so crappy at lying, Charlie can be pretty sneaky.

As witness this whole NSA/top security level thing.

No, I'm not going to forget that any time this decade.

"You didn't go on the raid?" Dad challenged me.

I shook my head. "Dad, if I had arrested Matzurath, any first year law student could have gotten the case thrown out of court. Even if my team had gone, they could have cried about 'conflict of interest', among other things."

I took a few minutes to roll the Canned-Lobster-Stuff over my tongue. It was actually pretty good, I'd have to remember this. "Besides, it turned out to be moot. There is a reason why those pictures had been abandoned."

"That poor girl," murmured Amita.

We had a moment of silence in honor of the victims.

"So, you're sure that Matzurath was the man behind the pictures?" Larry asked. "How did his gear wind up in that hotel?"

Edna shook her head. "We're not certain about that, most of the hotel records are long gone, but we're still looking into that aspect of the case," she said.

"But the case is close, right? The monster's dead?" Dad asked. He warily tasted his Lobster Newburg before deciding it was edible.

"Oh, yes," Edna said. "Sixteen years ago, he fell into his inside pool after it had been emptied for cleaning. The pool cleaners found his body."

"What happened to the outside pool?" Charlie asked.

"How did you know he had an outside pool?" Dad demanded.

Charlie blinked. "Um, Edna said an 'inside pool'," he said nervously. "That implies that there was an inside pool."

Dad looked at Charlie suspiciously. Obviously, Charlie wasn't fooling him, but Dad decided to let it drop, thank heavens.

"The outside pool had been filled in," Edna continued hurriedly. She looked at her plate, came to the same conclusion that I had about it being okay to enjoy being alive and dug into the Lobster Newburg.

"His niece inherited his house," Megan went on. "She never lived there, just used it as a rental. She's probably gonna sell it now."

"Why? What did you find?" Amita asked.

"A lot of blood evidence," David said. "The house had been thoroughly cleaned many times, but you can never completely get rid of blood."

"Blood? Any chance of identifying it?" Larry asked.

I shook my head. "After all this time and all the cleaning fluids that have been used on it? Probably not," I said. "The lab techs are doing what they can. The real damning evidence was in the filled in pool."

Dad and Charlie's eyes went wide.

"Not bodies," I said quickly. "Just a lot of clothing and toys and stuff that might still be identified and linked to an owner."

"Speaking of identify," David said. "As Charlie pointed out, not all of the pictures were of different children. Some of them were the same child at different ages."

"Really?" Dad put his hand on his knee and tilted his head to examine Charlie.

Charlie had his mouth full, so I jumped in. "Yeah, guess you passed on some good eyesight genes, even if you didn't pass on any height genes."

Dad gave me a look that said that I wasn't fooling him, but he'd graciously let this pass until the guests had left. I decided to leave with the crowd and let Charlie handle this. OK, it was cowardly of me, but it had been a long week.

"We think the total is twelve to fourteen children dead," Edna said, studying her plate. "Which is horrible, but not as bad as we originally feared."

"Some of the pictures turned out to be of child performers… actors, musicians, gymnasts… that Matzurath never actually met," Colby said. "Some of the other children have been tracked down. They remembered Dr. Maths, but none of them had been close to him. He never got a chance to get them alone."

"So he gave up on them, as he gave up on Charles," Larry murmured.

"Good," Dad said.

"Can we change the subject?" Charlie said.

"Sure," Dad said. "So, what's going on with you and Amita?"

"Dad!" Charlie yelped, scandalized.

"Math," Amita said blandly.

She and Charlie smiled at each other. I keep hoping they'll get married and start providing Dad with those grandchildren that he wants so much. Then maybe he'll stop nagging me.

Hey, a man can dream, can't he?

"You want to help serve dessert?" Charlie asked Amita.

"Sure," Amita said. She followed Charlie into the kitchen.

Dad watched them with a paternal smile on his face. Obviously, he was thinking about grandchildren, too. Or maybe he was just thinking about his child. The one who was alive and well and, judging from the giggles emerging from the kitchen, happy.

I thought about the horror story we had just closed, and felt gratitude that Charlie was one of the ones who got away.


End file.
